Family = ??? (This gets VERY messy)Father = ??? (presently the male element of baby-making (sperm), at lowest denominator)Mother = ??? (presently the female element of baby-making(egg). at lowest denominator)Parents = ??? (presently those responsible for children in a family unit)Child = ??? (can get messy too, but let's go with those under 18)Adult = ??? (can get messy too, but let's go with those over 18)

EVERYONE has a mother and a father. Even those raised from a petri-dish were created by combining sperm and an egg. But then Cloning comes in...

Now, what do we consider a family? One adult or two, or more? One child minimum? Obviously the mother and father need not be in the family. However, a Parent or Parents do.Then, are you no longer in a family when that criteria is not met? Can you disown your family?Then, can you be a member of more than one family, or does your family just become bigger with additions?Then, there are the various levels of family. Immediate Family, Extended Family, Next of Kin, etc.How many Families can a person belong to?Finally, you have the legal crap involved. What role marriage plays in a family etc.

BAH. Let them keep Mother's Day and Father's Day and let the parents do the lifting, like they should.

Headline sounds like some kind of "Oh no! This school is against families wharrgarbl" that would come out of Fox News. Having an International Family Day instead is totally fine. Like the article and others have stated, what if the child is father/motherless due to death of the parent? Not being able to participate in Father's nor Mother's Day in school probably added to making Bruce Wayne a little batty. Wait, that's a good thing, right?

I_Can't_Believe_it's_not_Boutros:Maybe instead of Mother's Day and Father's Day, they could recognize Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day. Honor all parents, instead of just yours, and maybe the students can learn something about apostrophes while they're at it.

Mother's Day CSB: I talked to my mom yesterday, and she told me she got a Mother's Day card from the other three members of my brother's longtime band. This August will be five years since my brother killed himself, and it brings my mom to tears when his friends still think of her, even if it's just a card.

That's really awesome of them and I hope you let them know what it means to her. I know I always feel really awkward reaching out to someone, because I don't want to cause them pain.

A Nova Scotia school is causing controversy after deciding to stop celebrating Mother's Day and Father's Day, instead opting to recognize the International Day of Families instead.The Dartmouth elementary school said it is aiming to celebrate diversity and inclusivity while avoiding making children who are part of non-traditional families feel left out."Children can be isolated in a classroom if they've lost their mom or are in a family without a dad or in a family with two moms or two dads," Education Minister Ramona Jennex recently told CTV Atlantic, adding that it's up to the individual schools to decide how to celebrate mothers and fathers.

Astral Drive ElementarySchool in Dartmouth, N.S. has decided to stop celebrating Mother's Day and Father's Day, instead recognizing the International Day of Families.As part of the family day celebrations, which took place May 15, students at Astral Drive Elementary School were asked to write the names of all the people who supported them in their lives, on a large tree hung in the gymnasium.Some parents have applauded the move to not celebrate Mother's and Father's Day as a sign of a more inclusive environment, while others have said theschool is taking political correctness too far.

For those that will inevitably miss the point- this is school being talked about, not any personal arbitrary assignment of some meaning to a date on a calendar that you want to do at home. Why is any of this silliness brought up in school in the first place? Stick to learning useful information in school.

golem222:The real problem is the erosion of tradition to appease a small minority group. Look i know that if your parents are gay it might be uncomfortable for you to celebrate these days, after all its just one more reminder of the abnormality of your situation. Or if a parent passed away the day might be sad for you, however for the vast majority these situations do not apply.

You mean, the real problem is that some people give a shiat about the emotional well-being of others.

golem222:The real problem is the erosion of tradition to appease a small minority group. Look i know that if your parents are gay it might be uncomfortable for you to celebrate these days, after all its just one more reminder of the abnormality of your situation. Or if a parent passed away the day might be sad for you, however for the vast majority these situations do not apply.

poorcku:This About That: How about discontinuing these :"holidays" because they are bogus events made up by marketers to sell you more overpriced useless stuff?

Right you are comrade, there should be only one day of rest (the day when our Great Leader was born). We must work every day for the success of our glorious mother/fatherland...

Right you are fellow peon. There should be no days of rest as dictated by our corporate overlords, appointed by their inherited wealth. Every day and every hour is like any other, with no additional rate of pay or extra compensation, and we should be grateful that our benevolent corporate overseers allow us the privilege of toiling for them at all.

LoneWolf343:golem222: The real problem is the erosion of tradition to appease a small minority group. Look i know that if your parents are gay it might be uncomfortable for you to celebrate these days, after all its just one more reminder of the abnormality of your situation. Or if a parent passed away the day might be sad for you, however for the vast majority these situations do not apply.

You mean, the real problem is that some people give a shiat about the emotional well-being of others.

/Even the person who invented Mother's Day ended up hating it.

My mother's father passed away when she was five. She was never particularly bothered by Father's Day. I agree that we need to be aware and sensitive to kids whose family situations are different, but this may be a wee bit overblown. That said, what the school is doing isn't worthy of getting outraged about, either.

with all of this gender neutral bullshiat taking place, when do we just go ahead and declare war on any language with grammatical gender and any dance form that involves a lead and a follower? tell you what, if you're in a situation with two parents of the same sex, then i'm sure they can figure out what day they want where and call it whatever the fark they want. this type of changing everything is pretty farking doubleplus ungood.

Mother's always get the coolest things from their elementary school-aged brood, but father's get the shaft.

If but for no other reason, putting the days together would solve that as well :)

Since our church does a Mother's Day dinner and a Father's Day breakfast, this would turn into an all day feast if we combined them. We would have to add in Cousin's Brunch, Aunt & Uncle's afternoon snack and Grandparents evening meal. At home a little brother & sister's midnight snack.

lack of warmth:Nabb1: I never realized that this was such a controversial issue for some people. For Christ's sake it just a little day to do something extra for mom and dad.

I figured it would only be a problem for those that lost parents. Especially to suicide.

jake3988: I always thought dads got the shaft because schools just don't stay in session long enough to ever celebrate father's day.

Mother's always get the coolest things from their elementary school-aged brood, but father's get the shaft.

If but for no other reason, putting the days together would solve that as well :)

Since our church does a Mother's Day dinner and a Father's Day breakfast, this would turn into an all day feast if we combined them. We would have to add in Cousin's Brunch, Aunt & Uncle's afternoon snack and Grandparents evening meal. At home a little brother & sister's midnight snack.

BarkingUnicorn:"opting to recognize the International Day of Families instead"

I like this. One less disruption of my routine per year.

If a day out of a year disrupts your routineYou have issues that are far beyond one day of disruptionBesides, since these days have been there for a long time now, wouldn't they be part of your routine and therefore the elimination of one, be a disruption?

Marquis de Sod:golem222: The real problem is the erosion of tradition to appease a small minority group. Look i know that if your parents are gay it might be uncomfortable for you to celebrate these days, after all its just one more reminder of the abnormality of your situation. Or if a parent passed away the day might be sad for you, however for the vast majority these situations do not apply.

Marquis de Sod:golem222: The real problem is the erosion of tradition to appease a small minority group. Look i know that if your parents are gay it might be uncomfortable for you to celebrate these days, after all its just one more reminder of the abnormality of your situation. Or if a parent passed away the day might be sad for you, however for the vast majority these situations do not apply.

THIS WHAT BIGOTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

So you're saying if one person is offended or gets triggered by a made up holiday we should just cancel the whole thing? How do people like you ever have fun? Do you actively seek out how you're being victimized? Are you constantly on the lookout for others exhibiting behaviors that need "correction?"

both of these are corporate bullshiat holidays in the first place so defending them, no matter on what rational grounds you stand, winds up being an exercise in autofellatio

\took my mom antique shopping and to a MLB game this past weekend, which I enjoyed. but the whole notion of one special day of the year is insanely superstitious and would be a hit in the middle ages...

ramblinwreck:Marquis de Sod: golem222: The real problem is the erosion of tradition to appease a small minority group. Look i know that if your parents are gay it might be uncomfortable for you to celebrate these days, after all its just one more reminder of the abnormality of your situation. Or if a parent passed away the day might be sad for you, however for the vast majority these situations do not apply.

THIS WHAT BIGOTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

So you're saying if one person is offended or gets triggered by a made up holiday we should just cancel the whole thing? How do people like you ever have fun? Do you actively seek out how you're being victimized? Are you constantly on the lookout for others exhibiting behaviors that need "correction?"

It's pretty simple:

Useful people devote their time and energy into solving real problems

Useless people devote their time and energy into whining about their feelings

I like it. Not everyone is being raised by both or either family. Hell, depending on the neighbourhood, many of the kids might not be in a two-parent household.

My aunt worked at a school in Spryfield across the harbour. Whenever there was a school event, they had to have a couple of police there along with a list of who had restraining orders out on who so they would only let the right people in. This would never happen in other schools.

Celebrating the family the kid actually lives with instead of the genetic donors seems sensible to me.

Dansker:Lsherm: For fark's sake, unless they are orphans one of the days is going to apply to them.

For fark's sake, why are schools wasting their time and resources celebrating Mother's and Father's Days in the first place?

You mean like asking kids to make a Mother/Father's day card in art block instead of making a paper-mache blob? I'm amazed that this abuse of resources and time has been allowed to continue. It truly is an abomination of the most significant proportions.